Armed to the teeth

"And if they force us into something ugly, we stand ready to unleash everything but the kitchen sink at them. That would be all weapons at our disposal, both known and unknown." 

What is happening right now is very interesting, and also most of it is happened behind the veil. Due to the non-stop and escalating truculent of the North Koreans, the two nations which are closest to the cross-hairs (Japan and South Korea), are becoming armed to the teeth. On deck to this arms build up - Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and others in the Middle East. What would move them from the on deck circle to the batter's box? More evidence that Iran is developing a nuke with a plausible delivery system.

The North Koreans might not know it right now, but they have opened Pandora'a Box. Even though most of what Japan and South Korea are arming themselves with weapons which are defensive in nature - not all of them are. But as far as the defensive weaponry is concerned, both of our allies in the WestPac are getting the best of the best.

They are both getting the current revision of the Standard Missile 2 - either block 3 or block 4. This technology has been around since I worked at BAE (left in 1999), and it has just gotten better every year. It can fly high, it can fly fast. And it is very lethal.

Japan is also scheduled to get the next installation of AEGIS Ashore. Plus maybe some THAAD to go along with their Patriot System. And that is just what we know about. I am sure there is much more which is being kept under the covers.

Putting the anti-missiles aside for a minute, if we can just keep North Korea and Iran contained for five years, their nuclear issue might become somewhat moot. Not too long ago, I read a very interesting article about laser technology being developed at Lockheed Martin. The land based and sea based development is doing very well, but the airborne still has some technology issues to overcome. Lockheed Martin believes five years is all they will need to to have a weaponized laser ready to go. One which can shoot down missiles.

It is a shame that the world has to spend this much money on armament. But humankind has been like this since Cain and Able, and we are not ready to beat our swords into plowshares. I guess we could thank the North Koreans for one thing. Because of their sprint to get a weaponized ICBM developed, we also are sprinting with our defenses against such a weapon. 

I also read about some pretty scary kinetic weapons we have at the ready. I am sure there is more stuff ready which we have never heard of. North Korea needs to know something beyond a shadow of a doubt. They think they are about to establish parity with us. But they will not. We are decades ahead of them in everything. And if they force us into something ugly, we stand ready to unleash everything but the kitchen sink at them. That would be all weapons at our disposal, both known and unknown.